Mayor de Blasio likely seen at favorite Italian restaurant in Brooklyn before wasting taxpayer money in helicopter ride to Queens

Mayor de Blasio was likely seen at his favorite Italian eatery before a mysterious chopper ride between Brooklyn and Queens.

(EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS)

A first clue in the mystery of the missing mayor.

Responding to an appeal from the Daily News about the whereabouts of Mayor de Blasio in Brooklyn before he used an NYPD helicopter to travel from Prospect Park to Queens, people are starting to provide details about how he filled the hours before his flight.

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Clue one: Bar Toto — a favorite hangout.

Hizzoner, who continues to refuse to disclose what kept him so busy that he needed to take a taxpayer-funded whirlybird to Long Island City, was hanging out in business casual and strolling around his old Park Slope neighborhood on that Friday, Oct. 14, according to locals.

He had likely been at Bar Toto, the Italian eatery that often serves as his second office.

He's there nearly every Friday — a day when his schedule usually gives him the afternoon off — making calls on his phone and catching up with his former neighbors that stop by, according to sources familiar with his schedule.

Bar Toto is an Italian restaurant located in Brooklyn.

(Todd Maisel, New York Daily News/New York Daily News)

The restaurant is just three blocks from Prospect Park, and a six minute walk from where the helicopter took off during the evening rush-hour.

"He's comfortable there," said one source.

Karrie Jacobs, a Brooklyn resident and design writer, said she saw the mayor around 3 p.m. in a white button down shirt with no jacket in the south end of the neighborhood walking in the direction of Bar Toto.

"I was walking up 14th Street and just as I got to 6th Avenue, I thought, 'Boy, that guy looks familiar,'" said Jacobs.

Then she saw his NYPD security detail walking behind him and realized who it was. "He was talking very intently on his phone," she said.

The New York Daily News cover on Oct. 25, 2016: Faster than a speeding bullet. (New York Daily News)

That 3 p.m. sighting helps fill in the gaps from the mayor's radio appearance at 1:25 p.m. and his chopper ride around 6:30 p.m.

Workers at Bar Toto confirmed that he is a regular presence on Fridays but suddenly got amnesia when asked if he was there that particular Friday.

"Nobody probably remembers because he's here all the time," one employee said.

His City Hall spokesman Eric Phillips for the 11th day in a row refused to divulge the mayor's schedule or why he needed a pricy helicopter ride to get to his speech in Long Island City, saying only that he'd been at "meetings" in Brooklyn.

"We don't make public the details of non-public, internal, personal or political meetings," said Phillips.

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Interior of Bar Toto. (Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily News)

De Blasio's 2017 campaign spokesman declined to comment.

The NYPD helicopter costs as much as $600 an hour, and takes a team of several cops to operate, including Emergency Service Unit police needed to secure a launch pad from Prospect Park, sources told the News.

Asked about it last week, de Blasio insisted that he was within his rights to use the helicopter when his security detail thought it was needed, and pointed to a Conflict of Interest Board ruling about elected officials and city-owned vehicles.

That ruling mentions cars, not helicopters, but his office said it applies to all modes of transport.

The ruling says elected officials who require 24/7 supervision from the NYPD — like the mayor — are entitled to use city-owned vehicles professionally and personally, and they don't have to reimburse taxpayers.

Workers at Bar Toto confirmed that he is a regular on Fridays but suddenly couldn't remember seeing the mayor on that particular Friday, Oct. 14. 2016.

(Susan Watts/New York Daily News)

But it would probably help him to be more open with how he's using taxpayer resources, say political experts.

"The issue is really transparency," said George Arzt, a Democratic consultant and former press secretary for the late Ed Koch.

"If you use a helicopter, there is a right to know from the public. It baffles me that he wouldn't say the exact reason for why he was using it."

That refusal has led to a slew of unnecessary negative headlines, said Arzt.

"I don't quite understand why he would want to do this battle and have the story every day in the papers," said Arzt.

But Arzt, who worked on de Blasio's 2009 campaign, said he has a hunch why he won't budge. "He just doesn't want to give in," said Arzt.

If you spotted the mayor in Brooklyn Oct. 14, send us an email to NYDNtips@nydailynews.com.